Final Moments

When Shizuru had first gotten the message from Botan that Koenma wanted to meet her in Reikai she was sure it was some pre-death pep-talk meant to put her at ease concerning her eminent demise. It wasn't until Botan's quick, but telling 'make sure you dress nicely' that Shizuru began to think something else was up. So that's how she ended up here, in the spirit prince's castle, dressed in the only skirt-suit she owned. Which she also hated, but if she was going to 'dress nicely' she might as well go all the way.

She'd been escorted by George-san the Ogre to this room upon her arrival and had done nothing but sit for twenty minutes. All things considered, she was really starting to get bored. Rather then linger on her growing irritation, Shizuru looked around the room with a mildly critical eye. It was a sitting room, but larger than any one she'd ever seen before and richly, yet still tastefully, furnished. She was completely alone, which probably would have been rather awkward had she been anyone else. Fortunately, however, Shizuru Kuwabara had long since perfected the art of being at ease no matter what her location. Call it a defense mechanism.

Still, the long wait was starting to get to her. She was just about to call it quits and demand George escort her home when the room's large double doors flew open with a bang to reveal the exhausted form of teenage Koenma. He was doubled over, with his hands on his knees, and panting so hard she was surprised his pacifier stayed in his mouth. Her eyebrow lifted in place of a question as Koenma looked up, gently wiping a bead of sweat from his chin in the process.

"S-Shizuru-san," he said, straitening as his breathing finally started to even out. "I'm really sorry you waited for so long. I would have been here a while ago but there was an unexpected accident in Kazakhstan and we had a sudden wave of new souls come in for booking."

"Kazakhstan?"

"We don't just cover Japan you know," Koenma said. "Reikai is parallel to the whole earth, contrary to popular belief. It just always seems to work out that most of the demons in need of fighting end up in the Tokyo area at some point or another."

"That seems pretty convenient."

"It can be," Koenma agreed. "If nothing else, it means less paperwork."

Shizuru's lips twitched as she fought back a smile. "I guess that's a good thing."

"Definitely."

There was a lull for a moment before Shizuru dropped onto the couch and crossed her legs as she leaned back into the cushions. "So not that I don't appreciate the chance to explore, but you mind telling me why you asked me here? I'm not gonna die sometime soon am I?"

Koenma blinked in surprise as he crossed the room to take a seat in the chair opposite Shizuru's couch. "Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"Why else would the prince of the dead call me into his ghost house? Nice place by the way. What's it cost to finance the upkeep?"

"Well most of our janitorial staff comes from the higher rings of hell to work off their debts so it's actually rather cheap. Think of it as a form of community service."

"Really? Sure pays to be king huh?"

"Well technically I'm the prince but I suppose the concept is virtually the same."

"Right. So tell me your royalness, if I'm not dying why exactly am I here?"

"…I thought perhaps you might need someone to talk too."

Shizuru raised a skeptical eye at the young prince. "About what?"

"About your relationship with Sakyo, among other things."

Honey eyes narrowed as Shizuru sat up, uncrossing her legs in the process. "I really don't see how that's any of your business Koenma."

"You're right," Koenma said, raising his hands in a pacifying manner. "As spirit prince it has absolutely nothing to do with me. But I'm not asking as prince, Shizuru. I'm asking as your friend. And like I said, you don't have to talk about anything. I'm only giving you the option."

"Why?" Shizuru said, still wary. "You're obviously a busy guy so why make time just to listen to me bitch about problems that don't even matter to you?"

"You've been strong for a long time Shizuru, but even you deserve the chance to show weakness every once in a while."

"Sweet as that is, I'll have to take a rain-check on that whole psycho-analysis thing. No offense, but you're not really my ideal doctor."

"I'm not trying to 'treat' you Shizuru, or offer you any medications to 'dull the pain'. I'm just offering my ear, and maybe my shoulder, as a friend. The way I figure it, I owe you that much."

"To be honest I'm more interested in hearing why you would 'owe' me anything."

"I suppose…I feel guilty," Koenma said, looking down at his hands. "You never should have seen Sakyo die, and then to have me drag you away so forcefully right after…It must have hurt a lot."

Shizuru snorted as she pulled a cigarette from her purse and slipped it between her lips. "I hate to break it to you sunshine, but I'm way too used to the men in my life screwing me over. It's nothing new."

"Then why do you keep that?" Koenma asked, waving towards her hand.

Shizuru started as she followed Koenma's gesture to where she was holding Sakyo's lighter delicately between her long fingers. She managed a shrug but even she knew it was just a bit shaky.

"It's a lighter. I smoke. Why shouldn't I carry it?"

"Human world is full of lighters Shizuru-san." Koenma said and Shizuru scowled.

"What? You think I'm attached to this or something? Please. It's just a stupid lighter."

"Then can I have it?"

Shizuru tensed at the question as her hand instinctively fisted over the small black object.

"You see?" Koenma continued, resting his chin on his folded fingers. "It does mean something to you."

"It was a gift from a dying man! I can't exactly toss it without spitting on the guy's grave, now can I?"

"I don't know." Koenma said. "Can you?"

"Forget this," Shizuru said, standing abruptly and replacing the lighter in her purse. "I'm going home."

"To get back to Ningenkai you need to be escorted by a ferry girl and, unfortunately, they're all busy at the moment."

"That's a load of bull!" Shizuru said, rounding on the prince. "You're just saying that to force me to stay."

"I'm not actually," Koenma said, brushing off his robes as he stood. "You remember what I said about Kazakhstan? The ferry girls are all escorting souls. They won't be finished for hours."

Feeling defeated, Shizuru had to stifle the urge to kick the over stuffed couch in a fit of childish rage. Flopping back down onto the cushions she crossed her arms and legs, glaring at the young prince with all the hate she could muster.

"Fine, but you'd better find some other way to entertain me until then. I'm not talking about this anymore."

Koenma nodded in affirmation. "Would you like some tea? And from what I understand the kitchens have just finished a fresh batch of cherry blossom rice cakes."

"Whatever," Shizuru muttered and Koenma took that as a yes and rang for George.

The large blue ogre stumbled into the room far too quickly then he should have and Shizuru noted that he looked slightly guilty.

"C-can I get you anything Koenma-sama?"

"Some tea and a plate of cherry blossom rice cakes, Ogre," Koenma ordered and George back out of the room, bowing the whole way. Sighing Koenma turned away from the door and shook his head. "He may be an idiot but at least he's harmless…"

"I didn't ask," Shizuru said making Koenma look up in surprise.

"…Actually, I was reminding myself…" He said, looking so adorably sheepish that Shizuru couldn't help but laugh. The minutes ticked by in a more comfortable then not silence until George's heavy footsteps could be heard outside the door. A swift, clumsy knock, sounded on the wood and Koenma rolled his eyes.

"Just come in, Ogre. I already know it's you."

"Y-yes sir, Koenma, sir." George said as he opened the door and backed inside, a tray of tea and rice cakes delicately balanced in his hands. "Do you need anything else sir?"

"Not for the moment Ogre. Thank you."

George looked surprised but smiled shyly as he set the tray on the table. "Of course sir. Please enjoy!"

Shizuru waited until George was gone before uncrossing her limbs and leaning over to help herself to the snacks.

"He seems nice enough," she said. "You treat him kind of badly though."

"At this point in our relationship he'd probably die of a conniption if I started treating him any different."

Shizuru snorted into her tea but managed to keep it from spilling as she slowly sat it back on the table. "Is that right?"

"Indeed it is," Koenma said. "By now he knows it's meant with affection. Besides, five hundred years is a long time to work with someone."

"Five hundred huh?" Shizuru said, taking a bite from one of the cakes. "You age pretty gracefully."

Koenma shrugged. "It helps that my normal form is a lot younger by default."

"I've been wondering, why is that?"

"Why is what?"

"Why is your normal form a toddler? I saw it on the video of Yukina but seeing you now it's pretty hard to believe."

"Hmm…I suppose it's just because I'm used to it," Koenma admitted. "Seven hundred years in the same form is a long time. 'Comfortable in one's skin' and all that."

"So why the sudden change? Like I said, I know what you look like because of the video but I've never seen it in person."

"I was getting sick of people judging me by my appearance I guess. And it does help me blend in better with the otherworld populace. Besides, now that I've gotten used to the change in power needed to sustain it, this form is actually rather comfortable. Give me a few more years and this transformation will probably be permanent."

"I guess I can see that," Shizuru said. "Though I imagine the added appeal with girls doesn't hurt your decision much either."

Koenma blushed a bit. "Actually, I've never had much…ah…interaction with girls in either form. I will admit to some…attraction, on my side but nothing that's ever developed."

"Really? How come?"

"T-too busy I guess. Besides, it's not really professional to date your co-worker and those are the only girls I regularly see."

"Hm."

More silence, some tea, and a rice cake later, Koenma finally spoke again.

"I did have a girl I liked once. Quite a bit actually. We went to school together…"

"What happened?"

Koenma shrugged. "We dated for a while but once I started work I realized that, as sweet as she was, she tended to be a bit selfish about certain things. My time was one of them. Apparently any time I spent away from her was time that meant I didn't love her. After about fifty years I just…couldn't take it anymore. I was tired of her guilting me all the time."

"I'm surprised it took you so long," Shizuru said. "I probably would have dropped her a lot sooner then that."

"It crossed my mind a few times. But like I said, I loved her, and I really did want her to be happy. For a while I even considered abdicating but eventually I realized that I just couldn't. A lot of people, worlds of them, depend on me. It just took me a while to realize that by staying with Kotennyo I was being just as selfish—no, even more selfish—then she was."

More silence and then, surprisingly, Shizuru decided it was her turn.

"…My first boyfriend was a lush," she said, "but I didn't really have the option to care. I'd just turned fourteen and my parents had died in a car crash a few weeks earlier. It was just me and Kazuma and, since we didn't have any money, we got evicted. He took us in but in return I had to do him some…favors. Fortunately it didn't last long but after that my relationships stayed pretty much the same. For a while I really thought Sakyo would be different. It just figures he'd turn out to be some black-market scumbag."

"He didn't deserve you anyway."

Shizuru laughed once as she pulled out the lighter again and lit the cigarette she'd almost forgotten about.

"That will kill you, you know." Koenma said and Shizuru knew it wasn't a question.

"Oh yeah? Well surprise me, little prince, how long do I have?"

"If you keep smoking like that? Maybe fifteen years. You'll develop lung cancer in about six and slowly wither away to nothing."

"…Gruesome." Shizuru said. "And if I do quite?"

"Surprisingly there's no cap with that out come." Koenma said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'll probably live forever."

"Now there's an intriguing thought." Shizuru said.

"Indeed."

Rubbing her thumb across the silver engraved initials Shizuru mulled over the two prospective life-times. On the one hand, she wasn't afraid of death but she was never really one for the long drawn out kind, then again, living forever would probably get boring after a while. Although, finding out why she was living forever would probably keep her occupied for a while.

"Besides," she reasoned aloud, "the guy was a prick anyway."

"Shizuru?" Koenma asked, understandably confused.

"Alright your royalness," Shizuru said, as she stood and made her way over to the trash can in the corner. "I'll make you a deal. You figure out why I'm gonna live forever and I'll quit smoking until you do."

"It could take me a while." Koenma said, eyeing her every move carefully

Shizuru shrugged as her fingers hesitated on the lighter for just a moment longer. "Apparently," she said, dropping the lighter and her cigarettes into the trash, "I've got the time."

"Yeah." Koenma smiled. "I guess you do."

End Final Moments

Kaliea: There's only one story for this couple out there and I don't think that's enough. The potential cuteness this paring holds is waaay to much to not write about. Besides, Shizuru needs some love too ^-^ Don't forget to review!